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Mr. Ernie Ross
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the average cost of keeping an adult in a Scottish prison per week.
Mr. Rifkind
The average weekly net current expenditure on Scottish prisons in the financial year 1977–78, the latest year for which a figure is available, divided by the daily average population, produces a figure of £78·78. The marginal cost of keeping an individual prisoner for a week cannot be exactly calculated but would be, of course, very much less.